Celebrating American Imagination and Industry!

7 Tours in Illinois

Fermilab, originally named the National Accelerator Laboratory, was commissioned by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, under a bill signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson on November 21, 1967. Founding Director Robert R. Wilson committed the laboratory to firm principles of scientific excellence, aesthetic beauty, stewardship of the land, fiscal responsibility and equality of opportunity. Universities Research Association built the laboratory, and has operated the facility under those principles since its founding. On May 11, 1974, the laboratory was renamed in honor of 1938 Nobel Prize winner Enrico Fermi, one of the preeminent physicists of the atomic age. Fermi's widow, ...Click here for more details...

It's just a small manufacturing operation but worth the stop to see and smell the chocolate, cheese and caramel-flavored popcorn in wooden barrels at the Great American Popcorn Company in Galena, Illinois. You'll get a short tour that includes information on the history of popcorn and what makes it pop, then you'll see how flavored popcorn is made from the cookers to the coaters.

Be sure to call ahead so the owner, Dave Lewis, can have a fresh batch of caramel corn ready to come out when you arrive. And, of course, you get to taste the treat while ...Click here for more details...

2003 Marks our 132nd year of fine craftsmanship produced in the U.S.A. My family, for four generations, has been proud of our tradition of innovative design and manufacturing.

We would like to share a small part of our rich history with you as you peruse our web site. You may start from our beginning in 1871, read through our history and, at any time, you may click on a specific time period and you will go directly to that period.

Our family aspirations of four generations have always been dedicated to fine craftsmanship, quality, value and customer satisfaction.

Factory Facts=============John Deere Harvester Works is the largest, most modern combine manufacturing facility in the world. Located in East Moline, Illinois, it is approximately 90 acres under roof (that's nearly 4 million square feet) and has produced products since 1913.

How We Build Your Combine=========================A majority of your combine components start as a roll of steel. Each roll weighs 10-to 20-tons, is 4-to 6-feet wide, and comes in thickness up to 1/4-inch. Steel is fed into a machine which cuts it to various lengths, then flattens it. The flat steel is sent to different stations ...Click here for more details...

In 1848, John Deere changed the course of local history in Moline Illinois by locating his first plow manufacturing plant on the banks of the Mississippi River. With this factory, John Deere's dream of producing a superior self-scouring plow for the western frontier became a reality. Across the country, farmers used his plow to till the land and they forever changed the shape of agriculture. The rest, as they say, is history: a history that is preserved at the John Deere Pavilion.

Locally owned and operated in the USA. Gourmet Chocolates Wholesale. We offer factory tours to the public via appointment for groups of 10 or more or you can possibly join a pre existing group. Tour is at our production factilty.

In 1915, Peter J. Oberweis found that he had too much milk so he began selling it to neighbors. In essence, the family dairy business that now spans almost 100 years had begun.

The Oberweis family has been delivering milk to homes since 1927 when Peter bought a half partnership in the Big Woods Dairy. A few years later he bought the entire enterprise, renamed it Oberweis Dairy and his high school son Joe left school to help out. During the Depression refrigeration was inefficient. Milk could be safely kept only a few days thus necessitating daily home delivery. ...Click here for more details...